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my camping is booked and the entry form is on the way.
looking forward to this - havent been since 1982!!

cheers for the pointers.
there are no gaps - the inwhale (yup - thats what its called - I for the life of me couldnt remember) has just come apart - its a fabricated plank with 5 parts to it and these 5 planks (2 are really thin strips of lighter wood)have become unstuck!
The plan, after looking at it last night, is to use West epoxy to stick it back together, then add a small knee behind it, right at the point I seem to be applying my (not inconsiderable) weight against, to stop the flexing.
It doesnt actually appear to be particularly well attached to the knees - it looks like this is not the first time its come off them and really needs stuck down a little better.

ordering the stuff today, so I can get stuck (hopefully not literally) into it this weekend.
ALex.

I have broken the inner finishing on the side-decks of my crusader. The individual strips of wood that make up this "plank" have seperated due to them flexing.
I'm going to fit another stiffener under it, right in the area that flexes to stop this happening again, but need advice on what glue to use to stick the seperated strips all back together.
It looks like this has split apart before and been repaired very well, but without the extra stiffening, this was a bit of a lost-cause.
can anyone suggest a good glue to stick this all back together? it needs to be reasonably runny, so it will flow into the gaps before I clamp it all up,

thanks
Alex.

well, been for my first sail now, and already I have broken it!:-/
the inner edge of the side-deck has come away on both sides - it looks like its done it before and needs glueing back a tad more substantially, with an extra stiffening rib glued under it to stop it flexing and falling apart again - easy enough to sort. A friend who sailed a crusader88 said he put a lot more stiffeners in than China Crisis has.

I really need to get some anti-slip inside the boat - it turns into a very good skating-rink and was the cause of me falling over mid-tack and doing the port sidedeck above,  with my head, and the starboard with my shoulder.
apart from that I'm very happy with the boat - its much more stable than I was expecting and sails very well, and once we get a bit more practise, I can see that we will be vying for first boat round the windward mark! the boat is quick up-wind - when we got a beat right and our tacking ok, we passed a number of boats (only to loose them downwind again!) - sailing as badly as we were we were holding our own against very good competition in Solos, Rs2+400's and lasers.

some work to have somewhere to tuck the control-lines out of the way, as the kicker and outhall kept coming loose.

I was concerned that it may be a little small, but actually it seems just about right, even though we are over the 23stone ideal by a bit.
first bits of technique are to get used to a non-centre mainsheet again, and more importantly, not to scoop up a gallon or 2 of water with every tack.

There has been a steady stream of people commenting on how nice it is to see such a pretty wooden boat being sailed.

pictures to follow!

I would love to be coming to Annandale, but have no trailer, and, am right now in Belgium.
I should be back in the UK tomorrow and am desperate to sail the boat - I can see a trip to the local trailer-parts place and the welder being broken out, if one doesnt turn up soon.

If the weather is nice, I wil try and pop down.

Angus, I will be at Tummel, the holidays are booked and the family are all looking forward to it.

ALex.

just wanted to say hello.
I purchased N3223 last month and transported it north to Edinburgh

having sailed Graduates quite extensively when I was younger, I remembered the quantity and variation in National 12's I used to see at Loch Tummel when I attended either Tummel-week or Tummel Regatta with my brother, or later in my own Grad.
Last year my eldest daughter started to get quite keen on sailing, and after buying an old topper for her to attend the local club's training in (I am interested as to how you "teach" someone to sail in a single-hander - read from this I havent been too impressed with the training!), so to supplement this training I decided to buy a 2-man dinghy for us to sail and also for her sisters to get a shot too!
I stopped sailing dinghys a few years ago (a laser - hated it - couldnt get it to sail properly at all)  and suffered from excessive middle-age-spread (i blame an unhealthy interest in old 2-stroke motorbikes and 1960's cars), but those 12's at Tummel must have had an effect as I have always liked 12's and decided one would be the best substitute for something like an RS200 (way out of my price range), being twitchy, reasonably exciting, but above all cheap (sorry, Im Scottish) - The prices of 12's were a bit of a surprise, you can get a very nice boat for not a lot of cash!
I was advised to look at N3223n after seeking advice on what ould be the best 12 for under 1k that would cope with sailing on the sea (reasonably sheltered however) and also a fair bit of weigh (until I loose some!), and received lots of pictures from the seller, and even though the drive from Edinburgh to Northampton was dull and slow, the boat was exactly as described, and seems to be everything I was looking for - money exchanged, onto the trailer, and back home.
as yet I havent managed a sail, but will be trying to sort that out as soon as I can purchase myself a road-trailer - I borrowed my sister's RS200 one for the collection, then, completely out of the blue, and without any consideration for her little-brother, she sells the RS!, leaving me without a trailer in the short-term - I am entered in a local regatta early next month, so some practice will be required before that, so I will be borrowing another RS trailer from someone else hopefully soon.

I am trying to attend some of the Scottish Travellers events, but right now it looks as though Im already busy most of the weekends they are on, but this may change.

right now Im looking at which club to join - currently the Royal Forth at Granton is in the lead with friends there making a determined effort to kick-start dinghy racing again (plus the added advantage of my parents keeping their boat there).

I will be at Tummel-Week this year, sailing in the full weeks events with one of my daughters as crew (depends on wind conditions - the youngest/lightest is 8, the oldest 13!)- first time since the early 80's.

Hopefully I can persuade a few other friends to take up sailing again with a nice cheap N12!!!

ALex.

Boat is now in East Central Scotland.

looking forward to teaching my kids to sail in it (and hopefully doing well on handicap in local regattas!)